The US draw against Italy was just what soccer needed in the US. A loss would have sent millions of Americans switching off their TV sets for the rest of the tournament. But the win raises the profile of the game and team in this country, thereby encouraging non-soccer fans to watch. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but the draw showed that the US team can play with heart. If the USA can beat Ghana on Thursday (and that's a BIG if) and Italy beats the Czech Republic, World Cup fever may actually affect mainstream America. Kudos to the US for a fantastic performance. We were proud of you tonight! For more coverage and thoughts, read my other blog here.

With six hours of World Cup matches on per day, what TV shows are you watching to stay on top of the news and analysis? The three shows i"m watching religiously are "Ticket To Germany" on Fox Soccer Channel, "Germany 2006" on GolTV and Sky Sports News. Fox Soccer Channel's "Ticket To Germany" is hosted by Max Bretos and features daily analysis along with Bobby McMahon and guests. 8pm ET. "Germany 2006" from GolTV is quite different. The first 15 minutes are dubbed in English with analysis from GolTV's Spanish commentators. It's quite interesting, but the best part of the show is the analysis from Lindsey Dean and Ray Hudson. 100% from the heart with no censorship. A nice touch, too, is the footage and interviews with the fans before and after the matches. 8pm ET. "Sky Sports News," on Fox Soccer Channel from 7-8pm ET, is interesting to watch meanwhile to see how the England and World Cup news is being spun from the motherland. What shows are you watching? Cheers, The Gaffer www.EPLTalk.com

EPL Talk fan Justin Franklin submitted the following audio blog entry, sharing his thoughts on what changes Bruce Arena should make to the US team for the Italy match, giving his opinion of some of the World Cup matches thus far, and telling you a little bit about himself. Listen to it here.

For soccer fans in the States who are agonizingly missing out on watching live World Cup matches (and there are many of us), there's one thing we're missing. And that's live soccer via broadband. Although the BBC is offering the service via its web site, the service is only for residents of the UK. Were the rights for Internet broadcasting of the matches in the US never purchased? Or did someone buy them and decide not to use them? As seen with Setanta Broadbamd's service, live Internet coverage of soccer can work. My prediction: Be prepared to watch most of the 2010 World Cup on the Internet.

What's a big difference between today's US game versus previous World Cups? It's blogs like these at FoxSoccer and EPL Talk giving fans like you the opportunity to vent. Although during the last World Cup, US fans didn't have much to complain about. This time, it's a different story unfortunately. But hats off to Fox for putting together this blogging forum to allow us to share our thoughts. Speaking of blogs, I'm curious to hear if you think Fox Soccer Channel should continue the blogs after the World Cup? For example, I'd love to read the thoughts from Nick Webster, Max Bretos, Jamie Trecker and Bobby McMahon throughout the upcoming Premiership season. Other than their feedback on the EPL matches, it'd also be interesting to hear about some of the behind-the-scenes activity at FSC in relation to the English Premier League. Speaking of behind-the-scenes, I just interviewed Max Bretos for the EPL Talk Podcast. Max discussed many interesting topics including the new Ticket to Germany show, his first World Cup memory, and his experiences watching Premiership matches in the UK. Listen to this and many other interviews (including Allen Hopkins, Nick Webster and Steven Cohen) at http://www.EPLTalk.com